Saturday, December 27, 2008

Oh, sweet heavens!

My dear friend Sara uses this phrase often, and it's one of the things about her I find most endearing. That, and the fact that she's a fantastic cook and the supermom of three wild childs. (I know, it's children. It didn't rhyme as well.)

Anyways. "Oh, sweet heavens!" should have been the phrase running through my head on Friday as Jim, Seth and I tried to get home from Jacksonville to Toledo. It wasn't. I don't think there are words to describe the nightmare that was air travel on December 26. At least if you were trying to fly through Atlanta.

After having our 11:30 am flight delayed 90 minutes, we boarded the plane, only to sit on the tarmac for a sweet forever once our pilot was informed all outbound and inbound Atlanta flights were grounded due to fog. We didn't even pull away from the gate until almost 3:00 pm (well after when our flight out of Atlanta was supposed to have left). By the time we were airborne, Seth had peed through all but 2 diapers I had in the diaper bag. Uh oh.

We landed in Atlanta at 4:02, and were delighted see that we'd been rebooked to Detroit at ... 4:30. So, we ran, literally, stroller on the escalator and all, from gate B18 to A04 (which, if you are familiar with the Atlanta airport, you know isn't a quick jaunt). We made it, but keep in mind that left no time for a diaper change and no time for dinner. Ugh.

Oh yeah. The other little detail? Jim was SICK. Sick like have-to-clean-up-the-wall-behind-the-toilet sick, since 5 pm Christmas Eve until.....well, he had a salad for lunch on Saturday. So, I was pretty much flying solo with Seth, and stroller, and a sick hubby in tow.

Needless to say, when we landed in Detroit, and were told there was a plane at our gate, and that we -- you guessed it -- were going to sit on the tarmac, again, for an indeterminate amount of time, again, I just cried right along with Seth.

But about 7:30 (miraculously, only 3 hours after we were originally scheduled to land), we made it to Detroit baggage claim, where -- hallelujah! -- we actually found our luggage. We were home and in bed by 10:00.

I have to say, after we make the 7 hour drive to Nashville tomorrow, I'm going to stand in my living room, click my heels three times, murmur "there's no place like home," and stay put for a very, very long time.

6 comments:

Wow, that sounds a very serious travel nightmare!!! Can't believe you made that flight with only 20 minutes to get there. That's quite the feat in the ATL...next time you come through, let me know! I wasn't in town anyway this time, but I want first dibbs next time!

Yikes!! That sounds horrible! I am so glad you guys made it home safely. I know this weird winter weather has wreaked havoc on so many people's holiday travel plans.Hope Jim starts feeling better, and I will be praying for a safe and quick drive tomorrow!

Crazy travel story for sure! I'm glad you made it home safely and hope that Jim is feeling better soon.BTW, I've been there with the "how is it possible he went through almost all his diapers?!" event on a plane before. Not fun!

You must be joking! That sounds like SUCH a nightmare. I hope Jim's feeling better! *hugs* Oh, not that this is going to make anything better, but Doug has something similar to what Jim had. Lovely. *gag*